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Needs more Brett

I could brew Saison every brew session and not get tired of the results. Especially if I’m fermenting with yeasts like Wyeast 3711, 3724 or bottle dregs. For this experiment, I’m looking to dial in a recipe for a slightly tart, but not fully sour saison. Something that has a slight lactic, tart bite, but not so sour that I need to age the beer for months or close to a year before it can be drunk.

I also want to use this showcase to test out different effects of Brett yeast in the secondary. I chose 3711 because this strain produces a high amount of glycerol, which lends to increased mouthfeel. This is one of the main reasons why beers fermented with 3711 can hit terminal gravity in the single digits, 1.004 for example, but not feel thin at all.

Brett is a huge consumer of glycerol, and uses it to transform flavors produced by sacchromyces.

I’ll be brewing 12 gallons of wort, chill to around 90F and then pitch lactobacillus for 48 hours to get an initial level of sour, and then rack the beer into 3 carboys, pitching a different brett (Lambicus, Bruxellensus, Clausenii) into each. After 6 weeks in the carboy, they’ll be bottled and sampled. I’ll also pull .33 gallons from each and combine into a single 1G jug to see what a combined brett secondary will produce.

Notes

Chill to 100F, pitch lacto, hold for 48-36 hours. Chill to 65F.Pitch 3711 into 12 gallons. Ferment to 1.010 S.G then transfer into three 4-gallon batches and pitch the different Brett strains into the carboys. Age for 6 weeks and then bottle.